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Debate Over Debates; Russia Launches Missile and Drone Attacks in Ukraine; Hamas Hostage Rescued. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 27, 2024 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:00:50]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We do begin this hour with breaking news out of the Middle East. Israel's military says it has rescued a hostage from a Hamas tunnel in Southern Gaza. He had been held captive since the terror attacks of October 7. The father of 11 had spent the last 326 days as a prisoner.

There he is in the hospital right there a short time reuniting with his brother.

CNN's Jim Sciutto joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Jim, the details have been trickling in. What's the latest that you have learned?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, certainly a happy moment for him and for his family after these painful days, weeks and months of captivity.

But this has also been quite a rarity for the IDF. Of the close to 250 hostages taken on October 7, only eight have been freed alive via military operations.

And this is the first one, based on the details provided to us by the IDF, that took place inside a tunnel in Gaza, the first hostage to be rescued alive from that dangerous complex of tunnels underneath Gaza, where not only are Hamas fighters hiding, but also it is believed many of the hostages have been held and are being held, so quite an operation, quite a difficult one.

The IDF says it was based on intelligence. Special commando units were involved, including an elite engineering commando unit, which has been tasked with the job specifically of carrying out operations inside those tunnels. So, in what has been a painful -- and, remember, we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks -- in the midst of what has been a painful nearly a year, this is a rare moment of success for the IDF, but also a rare moment of happiness for those hostage families.

ACOSTA: Yes, and, Jim, I mean, this is a reminder that these hostages could very well be alive. Many of them could very well be alive.

And I wonder how much of this is going to impact the negotiations for a hostage release. What do you think?

SCIUTTO: Well, those negotiations continue. I am told by a U.S. official with knowledge of the talks that they made progress over the weekend, to the point where they are discussing some of the final details, including the names of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel that would be released in exchange for Israeli hostages that continue to be held in Gaza.

But, as you know, Jim, there's an enormous amount of pressure inside this country, particularly from hostage families, but not just hostage families, from members of the public, other senior government officials inside Netanyahu's government, who want to move forward with the deal to get the bulk of or all the remaining hostages out, and out quickly.

Because, yes, while many are believed to be alive, sadly, many are believed to have died already. And, of course, the pressure is that over time, more might not survive. Just last week, the IDF carried out an operation that brought back the bodies of six hostages who, sadly, had already been killed or passed away since their captivity.

And I will just -- I want to read a quote from the Hostages Forum -- this is a group that represents hostage families that gets exactly to this point, Jim, because they released a statement, of course, praising this rescue, calling it nothing short of miraculous, but going on to say that: "Military operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages. A negotiated deal is the only way forward."

So a lot of certainly a happy day here. But for those remaining families -- and there are a lot of them -- they want their moment too. And many there are insisting that a negotiated deal is the only way to achieve that.

ACOSTA: All right, Jim Sciutto for us in Tel Aviv, thank you very much.

Turning now to the race for the White House, the highly anticipated presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris now just two weeks away, that is, if there is one. This is what Trump said yesterday -- quote -- "if there's a debate."

[11:05:04]

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They flew almost a million people in over the border. They flew. That stops all of their -- I shouldn't say this, because if there is a debate, it would be nice to surprise her with that one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN's Alayna Treene joins us now.

Alayna, where does this debate dispute stand now? I mean, we have to think it's going to happen, they're going to hammer out these rules, but we're not there yet.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Right. We're in this weird process of, will there or won't they, the debate over the debate.

Look, when I talk to Donald Trump's senior advisers, they say that they do believe that they have an obligation to debate, that Donald Trump himself actually wants to debate. The big question is just, how will it look and what are going to be the parameters around this? And that's really what this is.

I mean, it's frustrating, and I'm sure for our viewers as well. It's like a very process-y thing about really what it comes down to is whether or not the mics will be muted at certain points in the debate or if they will be allowed to be on for the entire discussion.

And it really comes down to, Jim, I think, the idea -- the fact that both campaigns recognize how high-stakes this debate is. It really could be one of the last defining moments of this entire election cycle. They also remember how, when you look at June 27, that debate between Trump and Biden, that really is what set off the chain of events that led to Biden ending his campaign.

And so what's really happening now behind the scenes is both sides are jockeying for some sort of edge over the other candidate. Now, I can tell you, I mean, the interesting thing about the Trump campaign's argument is, Joe Biden was the one initially for that June debate with CNN who wanted the mics to be shut off at certain points.

And the Trump campaign at first didn't like that. But I remember just reporting when I talked to them in the lead-up to that first debate, they changed their minds.

They thought that actually maybe having the mics be shut off at certain points will help him, particularly because, and this is the same calculus for this upcoming debate, is that a lot of Donald Trump's advisers believe one of the more important things, and perhaps even more important than the substance of the questions, is Donald Trump's demeanor, if he doesn't come off looking aggressive.

They don't want him to come off looking like a bully. They want him to tone down his rhetoric, have a more calm tone, to have him look presidential. That's even potentially more important now that you're going to have someone like Kamala Harris on stage with him.

She's a woman. He hasn't faced her on stage yet. So that is a lot of what's happening behind the scenes.

ACOSTA: So Trump was saying yesterday he didn't really -- it sounded like he didn't really care whether the mic was muted or not, despite what his campaign is saying. TREENE: Yes.

ACOSTA: RFK Jr. is endorsing Donald Trump, as we know, but our KFILE team has uncovered apparently some other statements that RFK Jr. has made about Donald Trump in the past. What do we know?

TREENE: Some very harshly critical statements of Donald Trump, some as recently as last month, Jim.

Look, I don't think this is surprising. This is clearly politics. And Donald Trump, for his part, has also been very critical of RFK Jr. His entire campaign for the last year or so has been trying to label him as a radical liberal in conservative's clothing. That is how they were trying to frame him to voters.

And now that he isn't not only endorsed him, but is going to be campaigning with him, they're talking about a potential role for him in his future administration, that has changed.

But I want you to just take a listen to some of the critiques that RFK Jr. has made of Donald Trump in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Donald Trump was a terrible president. He wasn't draining the swamp. He was turning the government over to corporate pirates.

I think the problem is, number one, he's a bully. And I don't like bullies and I don't think America -- that that's part of America's tradition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, quite a 180 there from a lot of those comments.

I mean, you heard him. He was saying that he thought Donald Trump is a terrible president, that he was a bully who appeals to bigotry and hatred, very different from the praise we heard RFK Jr. heap on Donald Trump on Friday.

But I think the bottom line here again is that this is politics. Clearly, RFK Jr. made the calculus that he thinks that this is beneficial for him. The Trump campaign, I can say, they had debated whether or not trying to bring RFK Jr. into the fold was beneficial for them. They decided it was, particularly after Harris, it became clear that she was going to take Biden's place at the top of the ticket.

So all of this is really them just kind of doing what's best for their own interests.

ACOSTA: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Let's bring in our panel, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, our old friend Larry Sabato, and Republican strategist Doug Heye.

Guys, thanks to both of you.

Doug, let me -- you're here in the studio. Let me go to you first. I mean, this debate over the debate, it just sounds kind of hokey as a thing to say coming out of my mouth. I mean, this debate is going to happen, right?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, let me say first, since you talked about RFK, last week I was I was on this network and I made a joke about the way he speaks, which is totally out of bounds. And I just want to acknowledge that and apologize.

ACOSTA: Oh, OK.

HEYE: His ideas, totally in bounds, how he speaks, differently.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HEYE: But to your question about the debates, every campaign, whether you're talking about president, Congress, or chief gravedigger, although that may be an appointed position, has a debate about debates, when and where, how many, what the formats are.

[11:10:06]

They're usually completely meaningless, unless the incumbent just doesn't want to do any. That's clearly not the case here. And with what Donald Trump says, it's so in line with what he often does. Tune in tomorrow. There's more. Let's focus the attention back on me.

Everything that he's saying right now, there may be a debate, I hope there's a debate, we will see if there's a debate, it fits that role of tune in tomorrow. And that's what we're all doing.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Larry, I mean, a lot of this sounds -- it feels very much like "The Apprentice," must-see TV, teasing to next week's episode. Tune in if there's going to be a debate. That's what this sounds like.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Yes, although -- it's probably typical politics, to be honest.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SABATO: This is the only part of this campaign, I think, is the norm, the debate about debates, which is always the emptiest, worthless part of a campaign discussion, because it means nothing to average people.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: But we're having the discussion now, but that's -- you know.

SABATO: Yes. Well, I'm trying to get it out of the way, Jeff.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: Thank you.

No, but I mean, is it -- but, Larry, I mean, you have studied this for a long time. Isn't this why we have a presidential -- we used to have a Presidential Debate Commission, so we could -- we would just stop having these games? That's one of the reasons why we're having these games and this discussion, this silly discussion in this cycle.

SABATO: That's absolutely true, although, remember, after the first four in 1960, we didn't have debates in 1964 or 1968 or 1972, because Lyndon Johnson, the incumbent in '64, knew he wasn't good on TV and didn't want to debate.

And then Richard Nixon, who'd lost the election because he lost the debate to John F. Kennedy in 1960, said, I'm not dumb enough to do this again in 1968 and 1972. We only got back to debates because Jimmy Carter versus Gerald Ford in 1976, it was suddenly in the interest of both candidates to debate.

They thought they -- both of them thought they could win the debate, so they did it. And then we were in that tradition and the tradition lasted until relatively recently, and maybe we will get back into it, though I doubt that commission ever comes to be again.

ACOSTA: All right.

And I think Ana Navarro is joining us, our friend Ana Navarro.

Ana, are you there? Can you hear me?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I can.

ACOSTA: What do you think about this? I'm so glad you're with us. I'm sure you have some thoughts on this whole debate discussion and whether or not Trump is going to show up and this whole thing about should the mics be muted or not muted.

NAVARRO: Listen, out of the things that we have seen in this campaign, this is by far one of the stupidest. I think it shows Donald Trump is running scared.

I think he comes across as a chicken who is afraid to debate Kamala Harris and is coming up with any and every excuse he can, because, on the one hand, he's saying it's about the microphones. On the other hand, he's attacking Donna Brazile, a commentator on ABC who has nothing to do with this debate.

He's attacking every ABC journalist, people who will have nothing to do with this debate, and people who are journalists, consummate journalists of great integrity. The bottom line is, he looks scared. He looks very, very scared.

The American people deserve to see that two folks who are running to be in charge of our country have a policy debate. If Donald Trump is too scared to show up, then ABC should give Kamala Harris the time and she should be there answering the questions.

ACOSTA: And, Ana, I did want to ask you. More than 200 Republicans who work for both Bush, Senator Mitt Romney -- Mitt Romney -- they signed a letter that is backing Kamala Harris.

It says in part: "Of course, we have plenty of honest ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Governor Walz. That's to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable."

How important is this? I mean, we saw this happening at the DNC. We're seeing more of it now.

NAVARRO: I think it's important because I think it's part of a larger campaign and what we are seeing, right?

We are seeing folks who work for Donald Trump say, we can't vote for this guy. We are seeing folks who -- at the DNC, Republicans say, the water is warm. It's OK. And it's safe to come in. We are seeing ads. We are seeing now this latest thing, which is over 200 people.

And, look, I know Mitt Romney quite well. I knew John McCain very well. I know some of the Bushes. And I think all of them would want folks who work for them, folks who they inspired to put country first. That was the mantra of John McCain.

And I think what these Republicans are doing today is exactly that. This is not about policy. We're not at a point where we can be arguing about policy, because we are arguing about fitness of character, about humanity, about moral compass. There will be one day when there is a Republican candidate who has a moral compass and we can go back to arguing about policy.

[11:15:07]

But, right now, it's about who is the most fit human to serve as commander in chief, a president of the United States, and these people are putting country first. I applaud them for doing that.

ACOSTA: And, Doug, I do want to ask you about the former national security adviser under Donald Trump H.R. McMaster.

He says that Trump bears some responsibility for the violent ending to U.S. role in Afghanistan. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Does Trump bear part of the responsibility for what happened?

H.R. MCMASTER, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Oh, yes.

I mean, so the whole premise of talking to the Taliban before you leave Afghanistan, why the heck were we even doing that? What happened in these series of negotiations and concessions to the Taliban is, we kind of threw the Afghans under the bus on the way out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, Doug, what do you think about that and also the fact now H.R. McMaster, another former Trump official, coming out being highly critical of the former president?

HEYE: Yes, he's one of those people that when he was brought on, you said, OK, there are going to be adults in this room, because quite often in the Trump administration there weren't adults or there were a lot of nonadults in the room.

What he says has impact, but we should also remember just the bare- knuckle politics. And I listen to what he says very closely and I followed several of his interviews this week, but then we get to politics. And the reality is the images that we saw of that evacuation happened in the Biden administration.

Donald Trump is going to use that against Kamala Harris, because that's part of her record. I was in Raleigh, North Carolina, yesterday and the day before, and I started to see some of the Trump ads that we don't see in Washington, D.C. It's good to get out of Washington. And what I saw were Trump ads that were very focused on the economy and on inflation.

And can you say that what happened in COVID and supply chains under Donald Trump played a role? Sure. But the brass politics of it are the administration in charge is the one that gets the political blame. And this is where, if Donald Trump can remain focused -- and his ads are -- he can have some real headway here.

ACOSTA: And, Larry, just finally, do these former Republican officials, former Trump officials coming out and being critical of the former president, does that make a difference at the end of the day?

SABATO: Well, I think it does, absolutely, especially the well-known ones.

Two words, Mike Pence. When was the last time that a vice president who served with a president refused to endorse him for reelection? Maybe you can go back to John Nance Garner in FDR's term. But it is extremely rare. And all of these other key officials who worked closely with Trump in his first term are telling you that he was a terrible president.

I kind of think people should listen to that. And these 200 people, Jim, that's great. They're courageous. I'm glad they did it. Where are the other 20,000? Why haven't they said anything? This is kind of a year where you don't get a pass.

ACOSTA: All right. Ana, Larry, Doug, guys, thanks to all of you. Really appreciate it. Thanks for coming on.

Ana, thanks for sneaking in mid-second. Always -- please do that any time. We appreciate it. All right.

Still ahead this hour: Ukraine's president is vowing his army will retaliate after a night of deadly Russian attacks, among them, drone strikes that have devastated Ukraine's energy grid. A live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:22:51]

ACOSTA: New this morning, Russia has launched a new round of missiles and drones on Ukraine, killing at least five people. Ukraine says this morning's new bombardment comes just one day after the biggest Russian air assault since the war began.

The Russian strikes have damaged Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, such as the power grid and drinking water.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us with the latest.

Tell us, what's the latest? How is the president responding in Ukraine?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

So, for the second day in a row, Ukrainians are enduring this massive air assault from Russia. President Zelenskyy says the country's air force has been able to repel some 230 attacks from Russia. Still, drones and missiles are getting through. And they are getting through, creating damage across the country, particularly to its power grid, to its civilian infrastructure, which, as you mentioned, is the target of these attacks.

But you have a very mixed battlefield picture. Of course, this assault from Russia begins to shift the narrative in their favor, but you can't forget that Ukrainian troops continue to advance inside Russian territory in Kursk, where they have launched that surprise offensive, where they continue to claim more and more Russian settlements, more and more Russian territory.

But further to the east of Ukraine, Ukrainians there are on the back foot. There, Russian troops are advancing, inching closer and closer to a strategic city, with families fleeing the scene there. President Zelenskyy is appealing for Western help.

He says he needs two things to combat this. First, he wants permission to use the long-range missiles that have been given to him by the U.S. and NATO. He wants to use those to strike inside Russia. And secondly, he's asking to use those air defense capabilities right up next to Russian airspace.

Now, both of those requests, of course, will make some White House officials cringe. It is the fear that could possibly escalate this conflict with President Putin. Still, President Zelenskyy says this is the only solution. You must lift these restrictions. Otherwise, we continue to be vulnerable to exactly the types of attacks you're seeing today.

ACOSTA: All right, Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much.

[11:25:01] Coming up: A prominent Latino advocacy group is accusing Texas' attorney general of ordering raids on people's homes all in an attempt to suppress their votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They came in and they -- two of them went into my bedroom and started searching everything. They searched all my house, my storeroom, my refrigerator, my kitchen cabinets, everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: One of the nation's oldest Latino civil rights groups is accusing the Republican attorney general of Texas of voter intimidation and suppression.